A Week of Movie Recommendation: Celebrating Female Directors 2
Ever since shelter in place began in March, on my Facebook page, I have been recommending a film daily. Several people have asked if I could compile those recommendations. So this begins a series of recommendations where each day I recommend a movie based on a theme.
Returning to our series of recommendations showcasing the amazing talents of female directors, I wanted to take a second to recount the films that have already been recommended:
April 5th - Agnes Varda's "The Gleaners and I"
April 6th - Nancy Savoca's "Dogfight"
April 7th - Kasi Lemmons' "Eve's Bayou"
April 8th - Mira Nair's "Salaam Bombay"
April 9th - Sally Potter's "Yes"
April 10th - Lynne Ramsey's "Morvern Callar"
April 11th - Chloe Zhao's "The Rider"
Celebrating Female Directors 2
Day 1 Movie Recommendation
Similarly to starting the first week with one of the masters of French Cinema, Agnes Varda, this week I want to start with a recommendation from the only woman ever to win an Oscar for Best Direction. I could easily recommend her Academy Award Winning film, "The Hurt Locker", which is great, but I would rather point out an action masterpiece she made in the early 90's.
"Point Break" ****
Kathryn Bigelow's "Point Break" deserves to be mentioned with the great 90's action films: "Die Hard", "Speed", "Terminator 2", "Face/Off". "Point Break" took itself both a serious and silly movie. Balancing those tones in one film is difficult.
The story of the film follows a young FBI recruit, Keanu Reeves, transitioning from playing teenage characters ("Parenthood" and "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure") to being a series adult actor, in his attempt to capture a local group of bank robbers who call themselves "The Ex-Presidents". "The Ex-Presidents" rob banks wearing masks of ex-Presidents Reagan, Carter, Nixon, Johnson (already there is a uncommented on political statement in this 'action film').
The leader of the "Ex-Presidents" is played by Patrick Swayze in the best performance of his career. The group of bandits are not only thieves, but also, surprisingly surfers. It is here that the movie's seemingly ridiculous plot reveals a deeper layer.
Kathryn Bigelow approaches shooting the surfing sequences with the eye of a great documentarian. She captures the feeling of freedom and sense of wonder and excitement that comes from surfing. Is there any wonder that surfing has been recommended as a form of therapy for former soldiers suffering from PTSD. There is a meditative quality to surfing, where you feel free and unconnected to the world. This movie understands that.
More than that, it uses this life style as a lure to connect Keanu's character and Swayze's character. The life style becomes attractive and Swayze becomes a mentor to Keanu's character who finds some of what he has been looking for in life in these moments. This makes the films climax tragic as Keanu's character must choose between this life that he has fallen in love with and bringing these criminals to justice.
Kathryn Bigelow did not make it in the industry making rom-coms and other "female" oriented films, but rather, taking on the industries supposed "male-dominated" genre, the action film, and making it her own. She is a true pioneer.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuVDrpl1tIY
PS do not see the remake. It lacks everything I've said about Kathryn's style.
Day 2 Movie Recommendation
Next in my recommendations celebrating female directors, I want to highlight a film I believe could not have been made in the same way by a man. One of the true gifts of diversity is bringing different experiences and understanding of experiences to the surface. I believe Mary Harron successfully did this with her masterpiece:
"American Psycho" *** 1/2
I firmly believe that if most men made "American Psycho", even though they didn't consciously intend it, Patrick Bateman (brilliantly portrayed by Christian Bale) would come off as a bad-ass rather than a pathetic man. One of the best films dealing with toxic masculinity, Mary Harron, who also wrote the screenplay, provides us with images of typical masculinity but devoid of any positives. One example that truly stands out is Patrick Bateman's sex scene with two women at once. Even in "Clockwork Orange" there is a joy to a similar scene, but in this film, Patrick's monologue about the band Genesis while having sex and staring at himself in mirrors, blatantly takes what cultural is often considering a "cool" thing for a guy to do as merely self congratulatory.
The film begins with one of the great images of the 90s. Patrick Bateman doing his normal beauty routine, pulling off a facial mask and staring at himself in the mirror. Indeed, this fit, handsome, successful man is an insecure infant who uses his masculinity and physical prowess to control, manipulate, and kill people.
One of the great scenes that again makes this clear is the scene where the men get into a "dick size" contest over their business card. Wow, so accurate. The hysterical realization of the card that someone didn't care about makes it a revelation and hysterical.
Mary crafted this film as only she could and it is a great movie.
Day 3 Movie Recommendation
Continuing a daily recommendation highlighting the incredible work of female directors, we now turn our attention to Sophia Coppola. Sophia obviously had connections into the industry that many people do not, but she also bares the weight of being the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola. Just like the equally brilliant, Rebecca Miller (daughter of legendary Arthur Miller), both of these women avoided going into the arts for a while because of the expectation involved... or so I believe (see Rebecca Miller's amazing adaptation of "Proof" another story about a woman living in her famous father's shadow). I could have recommend Sophie's masterpiece "Lost in Translation", but rather, I will name her more recent great film:
"Somewhere" ****
"Somewhere" and "Lost in Translation" have a lot in common. Both are about stars who no longer see meaning in anything they do. Yet, in "Lost in Translation", there is a sense of hope. Bill Murphy's aging actor meets a young woman, Scarlett Johansson, whose friendship, not romantic interest, gives him a partner in the endless night wanderings through this lonely world. But while "Lost in Translation" is filled with hope despite its melancholy, "Somewhere" is filled with despair. Yes, it is titled a comedy and there are hysterical moments, but this is a depressing film.
Once again, taking the idea of a star who has lost the will to enjoy life, Stephen Dorff (a career best performance) plays Johnny Marco, a celebrity who "exists" in a hotel, not so much because he wants to but because he has nothing better to do. Everything even the sexual exploits he goes through in this film have lost any sense of interest. Here in this hotel room, he does drugs, engages with multiple sexual partners, and does what he is told to in terms of his job (promoting the recent film he's been in).
Then there is his daughter, Cleo (a tremendous Elle Fanning), an 11-year-old who observes all of these things. The movie, like "Lost in Translation" has a detached quality, just as both Johnny has a detachment to the world and Elle a detachment to her father. Elle observing the actor has become an actor herself, able to fool and maintain herself despite the chaotic and horrible environment she lives in when she's with her father.
Cleo has grown up fast. She has been forced to as there are times that she must be the adult to her child-like father. In many ways, she understands why her father and her mother are divorced more than her father does.
In this situation, it is tempting to read something into Sophie and Francis' relationship. But rather than going purely autobiographical, this film demonstrates how depression and behavior are passed unknowingly from parent to child. Where I think "Lost in Translation" offers some hope at the end, so does "this movie" but the hope at the end of this film is not believable in my mind. I think that the ending slyly suggests that even though he's leaving his Ferrari behind, this is too easy of a transition and that he's actually coming back.
Day 4 Movie Recommendation
Today we celebrate a true American Independent Filmmaker. Debra Granik refuses to make movies the way most people do. She's not interested in telling a conventional story even if the summary of her films seem like they would be conventional stories. I could recommend her most recent film, but none of her works has struck me the way her sophomore effort did. So today, to celebrate female directors, I recommend:
"Winter's Bone" ****
As I said, the general plot outline of "Winter's Bone" suggests a conventional film. The movie is about a young woman, Ree (a revelatory Jennifer Lawrence in the performance that launched her incredible career) who is told by the police that her father, who has put their house up as bail, is missing. If he doesn't show up on his court date, the county will take the house. So begins an odyssey, a journey through the backwoods of the Ozarks to find her father. This sure sounds like a conventional adventure story, but Granik is not interested in making a film about the plot. She's interested in the deep secrets of character and more interested in the environment and community that Ree finds herself in.
The film begins with Ree wandering between homes searching for her father after being delivered that sobering news from the police. As she wanders the camera follows her, tracing her steps through the Ozark country side. What we see is a community in utter ruin. There are no clean homes. Everyone keeps everything they can, afraid to throw anything away in the fear that one day they might need it. Poverty is extreme. Broken down cars litter front yards along with dirty couches. At moments, it looks like McCarthy's landscape in "The Road". Here, Ree finds no help. She knocks on door after door, opening and telling her they don't know. At first, I thought this was going to the shape of the entire movie and I was concerned. It seemed to take Abbas Kiarostami's style, a famous and influential director whose films sometimes feel so slow and repetitive that it can be painful.
But then, she meets someone who will help her. Her uncle, Teardrop, brilliantly played by John Hawkes at first says no. But, he admires Ree's audacity to venture out to try and find her good for nothing father. It is here that we begin to understand what is going on. The Ozarks have long been a poor community and like many poor communities, they seek an escape and if it can't come through the hope of education and bettering one-selves, it can come through another form of escape. For decades, alcoholism has ravaged the Ozarks, but now, a far worse fate has taken hold, crystal meth. Everyone does it. Ree's mother's mind has been destroyed by it. Her father was arrested for selling it. Almost everyone they encounter either does it or is involved in the underground sale of it. This is a disheartening truth. So many rural areas have been hit extremely hard by substance addiction, which has rapidly gotten worse the introduction of new drugs.
This odyssey Ree embarks on nearly gets all of the them killed. The person who might know what happened to her father is the most powerful drug baron around. He is treated as a distant and impossible to reach figure. His wife and her friends beat Ree to a pulp for even attempting to question them.
But every where Ree goes she makes an impression. A young woman unwilling to give up on her family, including her two younger siblings that she raises because of her mentally damaged mother. A heart breaking scene occurs when she tries to get her mother to actually do something, but there's nothing left of her.
The climax is totally unconventional. Ree knows her father is dead and that her journey is hopeless, but she continues none the less. In the end, a surprising "act of kindness" gives her the ability to save her family from being homeless... but, she can't save them from the world they live in.
Day 5 Movie Recommendation
Continuing recommendations celebrating great female directors, today's recommendation is for a director whose first film (I actually haven't seen her second) was completely it's own tone, simple, comical, truthful, and magical. The film deals with the difficult subject of sexuality, but in a very frank, honest, and even touching way.
"Me, and You, and Everyone We Know" ****
Miranda July's film operates in a cross between her reality and ours. People do not speak this way with rare and raw emotional honesty, but oh my, what if we did?
The film is about the relationship between Christine (Miranda July, pulling the incredible feet of writing, directing, and starring in her own film) and Richard (played by John Hawkes, the fabulous actor I just spoke about from "Winters' Bone"). There is an incredible moment in the film where they are simply walking down the street, but Christine offers that the street is a metaphor for their life. They are halfway down it and so they have another halfway until the end. That this relationships will end, but Richard reminds her, we're not there yet, we're still in the good part. People don't speak like this, but only if they did.
We also meet Richard's children, their neighbors and others along the way. The world is full of people who know how to express themselves even if they haven't found that right person yet. There are two comical, frank, and sometimes disturbing moments of budding sexuality among Richard's youngest son online and his older son with his female friends who have now become more than just friends.
All of this is balanced by Miranda's incredible whimsy. There is a feeling of both reality and fantasy in this film. It reminds me of a joyful Wes Anderson world without his theatrics, stripped down to the raw emotion.
This film is one of a kind.
Day 6 Movie Recommendation
Next in our series of celebrating great female directors, I was reminded of the brilliance of this one director a couple days ago because I was reading a thread she replied to on Twitter. Guillermo Del Toro, who is usually very active on Twitter, went silent for a while, but recently posted the message of lets share what we are reading, watching and loving. The result was many other directors and celebrities replying and him commenting back on what they were watching. One was the great Sarah Polley. During this time, the film I would like to recommend is her feature length debut:
"Away from Her" ****
Given that nursing homes and the elderly in general are being ravished by Covid-19, here is a story of hope amid utter despair. This is the story of a husband, Gordon Pinsent, must put his wife, a brilliant Julie Christie, in a nursing home because she has contracted Alzheimer's disease. Then an apparent even worse fate befalls him, his wife can't remember him and falls in love with another man in the nursing home. Rather than being a devastating portrayal of love lost, Gordon's character discovers great truths about himself and his love for his wife.
I first saw Sarah Polley I believe in Atom Egoyan's masterpiece "The Sweet Hereafter". I was astounded by her performance. There is a moment in that movie where she chooses to lie at a deposition. It is one of the most riveting and complex performances I've seen. For someone at such a young age, she had such a gift. But like Jodie Foster before her, she wasn't completely satisfied with being on one side of the camera. Her decision to go into filmmaking, certainly influenced by her career, allows her to focus on the small moments in acting.
"Away from Her" could easily have been melodrama or worse a Lifetime Channel movie with a feel good ending, but it isn't. The revelations are subtly done and the love story beautifully told. Sarah has a gift for seeing people and capturing them. It is a shame that she has only been able to direct twice more. My guess is like so many female directors she finds it difficult to secure funding. What a shame. Here's to hoping for many more films from her in the future!
Day 7 Movie Recommendation
So far with the series celebrating female filmmakers, I have recommended a lot of emotionally heavy and difficult films with Katheryn Bigelow's "Point Break" being an exception. Today, let's look at one of the great female directed comedies in the last couple of decades:
"Clueless" *** 1/2
Amy Heckerling is one of the most impressive filmmakers I've ever spoken to. Her understanding of story and how it works is amazing. She taught a one day class on analyzing any movie she wanted and she chose Scorsese's "Mean Streets". At the start of the film, she said that inspiration often comes from that one little idea that takes what has been done and makes it your own. She said that typically there are two types of Bildungsromans. One where the main character is stuck at home and realizes at the end that in order to grow up they have to leave ("Ghost World") or the story where the main character is on a journey, grows up, and returns home (the classic hero's journey, "Pinocchio"). "Mean Streets" is fascinating she said because the characters realize that in order to change and grow they have to leave, but they can't because they are stuck and that is tragic. Gave me an entirely new perspective on one of my favorite Scorsese films.
With that intelligence, I realized that I needed to go back and watch "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Clueless". As a male who was a child in the 1990s, "Clueless" the first time I saw it was a funny movie, but certainly not something for boys. Going back to it, I am amazed at how perceptive it is. The movie's tone is a balance of satire and sincerity just like it's main character.
Cher, who says she is named after a signer who now does infomercials, is brilliantly played by Alicia Silverstone. She comes off as a typical California valley girl, but she is incredibly smart and perceptive about life. Her father is not the stereotypical clueless dad from movies like "American Pie" but rather a perceptive father who knows what's going on with his daughter. Played by Dan Hedaya, the father is a famous lawyer and his daughter has obviously been learning from her father for sometime. At one point, Cher receives a low grade from two teachers who she then in turn convinces that each teacher is secretly an admirer of the other. Making both of them happy, she gets her grade raised. Her father informs her that her negotiating a higher grade makes him even more proud of her than if she earned the higher grade.
The plot rotates around a romance and trying to help an unpopular girl to become more popular, but brings with it a sense of satire to it and at the same time somehow manages to be poignant as well.
Bonus Movie Recommendation
Tomorrow we will begin a week of overlooked Science Fiction films (by overlooked, I don't necessarily mean by critics, but generally not great box office scores or smaller Science Fiction movies). Today though we continue our recommendations highlighting female directors for their amazing films. Today I want to highlight Niki Caro whose "North Country" and "MacFarland USA" are both worthy of discussion, but it is her second film that gained Oscar nominations and brought a much needed story and culture to the big screen.
"Whale Rider" ****
As someone who has seen films about Asians directed by non-Asian directors, I am sensitive to the criticism that a white woman from Auckland making a movie about a young Maori girl who becomes the first female chieftain of her people. But directors can be a bridge, introducing ethnic actors who otherwise might not receive without a film about their underrepresented culture. I am thinking of course of "The Killing Fields" directed by Roland Joffe who is British, but whose delicate direction and choices of casting Cambodian leads in his work lead to a great film. Here, I think the same thing is happening.
The first and most important decision Niki Caro made in adapting this film was to cast Keisha Castle-Hughes, an unknown 13 year old Maori girl at the time in the lead role. Keisha is astonishing. If you liked Disney's "Moana" (obviously about a very different Polynesian culture, but containing some of the same themes) you should love "Whale Rider".
"Whale Rider" tells the story of a young girl named Pai, who, by village tradition, is named for the original founder of their people, Paikea. He survived a capsized boat by riding a Whale to shore and eventually founded their society. The tradition for hundreds of years is that the Chief would be the first born male descendant of the previous Chief. All generations would lead back to Paikea. The young girl, Pai, believes it is her destiny to become the chief, but, she must fight 1,000 years of tradition to do so.
